3515 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap.. Copyright No. 

Shelf.X--J-^ L'^ 

UNITED STATES OF Aji^RICA. 



LEGENDS AND LYRICS 



OF THE 



GULF COAST. 



/ 

BY LAURA F. HINSDALE. 






HETald Press, 
BllQxl, Mississippi 



^ ^t 



Jy/ ■^^\0^-^-^ 



I 29 6> 



Cnpyrlghtsd.. 1696. 
By LilURii F, HINSDALE, 



INDEX. 

PAGE 

Astraiul 30 

Biloxi ..---.-- 1 

Cherokee Rose, A Legend of the . . . - s 

Coast Light, A . - . . . 15 

Coining of the Dryad to the (^-oast, The - - oS 

Danjdune Isles, The ----- 11 

JJreani of Eona, The .22 

Filles a la Cassette - - - . - - - '2\) 

Fonr-Leaf Clover, A - - - - L'l 

Gulf Forts, A Legend of the - - . . ;>2 

Live Oak Ring, Tlie ------ r> 

Li«*,hen, A Cluster of . - . . . 11 

Marjorie and Joe _ - . . . . ;U 

^leinorial Chuieh, Biloxi. The ... - :V2 

Mirage of the Gulf, A - - - - •")<) 

-Mocking Bird, The True Song of tlu' ... i>5 
Music of tlie Pines, Tiic -.-... la 

Mysterious Music of the (xulf Coast. Tlie - - 2 

Night Jasmine, The - - - l.'J 

Xight on the Gulf Coast ..... il> 

Old Lidiau Trail, The . . . . . ;i5 

iSauvolle and Biloxi - - - IS 

Sailing on the Gulf - - - . - !iS 

Saint John's Eve, A Charm of .... ;}7 

Ship Island Light - - - - 2(1 

Sieur Alexandre's TajxMs ..... .39 

Southern Night, A - - - - - KJ 

Spanish Gulf Song, A ----- - 21 

S])anish Moss - - - - - -20 

Tcrias Lisa ------ 10 

Thou and 1 - - - .. - - - 4 

Wood Thrusli. The - 7 



PREFACE. 

Several of the lejieiids of rliis colU'cticii aiipeaied in The 
Times- Deiiioei at. The American .Ma.uazim- and Tiie Ameri- 
ean Katuralist. They have been wrirtni in the hojie of 
helpinji' to preserve some of tlie fasi fadiiij^ traditions of 
the Gulf Coast, a rejiion which is niidoulttcdly one of tlie 
most romantic and poetic known to American lustory. 



PREFACE. 

Several of the legends of tliis collecticn appcincd in 'lUv 
Tiines-Democrat, Tlie Ainericaii Maiia/iiie and Tlie Anieii- 
eaii Naturalist. TJiey have been written in tiie hope <»f 
helping to preserve some of the fast fading- traditions of 
the Cxulf ( 'Oast, a re.ii'ion w hieii is nndoubtedl.N on(^ of the 
most romantie and poetic known to >Vmeriean history. 



Biloxt. 

The blue gulf billows love thee, the blue skies bend above thee, 
A hundred sails, like pinions, are winging to thy shore, 

The giant live oaks over, have woven thee a cover, 

And the music of thy pine woods sighs on foreverniore. 

In thy jasmine bordered gardens what spell of memory lies, 

When the mocking birds are singing of love and Paradise ! 

The starry night discloses thy bowers, sweet with roses, 
I hear the boatman singing a legend of the sea. 

As a mirage of the highlands, I see thy distant islands, 
And the white sail lingers and seem to beckon me. 

In thy jasmine bordered gardens what spell of memory lies, 

When the mocking birds are singing of love and Paradise ! 



Znysterious ZTTusic of tl?e ©ulf Coast. 

[The following poem which first appeared in "The American 
Magazine" has been widely copied. Scientific interest has for some 
time been awakened by those mysterious tones which may be heard in 
our waters on summer nights. One of the recent publications of the 
Bureau of Ethnology deals with our Eiloxi legends, some of which are 
woven in the following stanzas:] 

Tliere is a time when summer stars are glowing, 

And night is fair along the Southern sliore, 
The sailor, resting where the tide is flowing. 

Hears somewhere near, below his waiting oar, 
A haunting tone, now vanishing, now calling, 

Now lost, now luring like some Elfin air; 
In mui'murous music fathoms downward falling. 

It seems a dream of song imi)risoned there. 

The legend tells, a phantom shi]) is boating 

On yonder bar, a wanderer ever more, 
Its rythuiic musi<', evanescent, fleeting, 

Stirs the lagoon and echoes on the shore. 
O phantom ship, dost near that port Ely si an 

Where radiant rainbow colors ever play? 
Shall hope's mirage return a blessed vision; 

And cans't thou find a joy of yesterday? 

The legend tells of a pale liorseman fleeing, 

Whose steed the gnomes with metals strange liave shod. 
Who, on and on, a distant summit seeing. 

His way })ursues, in ocean paths untrod. 
His spectral hoofs by the Evangel bidden 

In far carillons beat in measures low, 
Elusive tone! dost near where that is hidden 

Which made the music of tlie long ago ? 



The legend tells of sirens of the ocean 

That wander singing, where the sea paluis rise, 
And through the song's intense and measured motion 

1 seem to hear their soft imprisoned sighs 
They lure me, like the spell of a magician, 

Once more I see the i)alaces of Spain, 
I feel the kindling thrill of young ambition, 

The tide swee])s on — the song is lost again. 

The legend tells of vocal sea-sands sifting. 

With vibrant forces, resonant and strong. 
And on the surging sand-dunes fretting, drifting 

Like broken hearts that hide their griefs in song. 
Tell me white atoms in your sad oblation 

Of drift that lies so deep that none may scan, 
Is it forgotten in God's great creation, 

Who formed the fleeting, hour-glass life of man '? 

The legend tells of those wiio long have slumbered, 

A forest race too valorous to flee. 
Who when in battle by their foes outnumbered 

With clasping hands came singing to the sea. 
The ocean drew them to her hidden keH]nng, 

The stars watched over them in the deeps above. 
Their death-song lingers, but the tones of weejting 

Tell the eternity of human love. 



J dwell on the sorrowful star, 

And thou in tlie Eden of light, 
Yet sometimes thy voice from afar 

Calls in the dreams of the night; 
In the silence I know thou art near, 

Comi)assionate, tender, divine, 
Like psalmody clear, soft voices I hear. 

And know the dear voice that is thine. 

I dwell on the sorrowful star, 

And thou in the City of God, 
And those mystical gates to unbar. 

There Avaits the long pathway untrod; 
But to win thee away from the ecstacies there 

Where the glories of Paradise beam. 
Forgive me — self sjwke, if 1 called thee in prayer. 

And won thee to p]arth in a dream. 

I dwell on the'sorrowful star. 

And thou with the souls of the blest, 
And not by a sigh would 1 mar 

The peace of that Heavenly rest. 
Be glad in the sunlight of Heaven, 

Where spirits celestial may roam ! 
Sing on! — in the dusk of the even, 

1 may hear thee and follow thee Home. 



iTf^c "€ire (Dak .^vina." 

A live <);ik on Biloxi's sliore. 

'Mid miglity oaks a oiant tree, 
A score of centuries or Jiioie 

Has ji'rown in beauty by the sea. 
])eei) bedded in tlie \vave-wMslie<l sands, 

Its wondrons roots tlieir life liave won. 
And crowned with verdnre there it stands 

With all its branches to the snn. 

How many an unrecorded day 

Along' its history enweaves! 
What fancies in its shadows ])lay 

Like rainfall in its suuinier leaves! 
Sweet birds, whose songs no more are ours. 

Within its boughs have built and sung, 
And at its roots forgotten flowers, 

Their odorous blossom bells have swung. 

'Twas here she grew, flower of the wild, 

A maiden of Biloxi's race, 
A chieftain's fair and only child, 

A blithesome maid of winsome grace. 
The bravest warriors of the chase. 

To her their tro])hies brought. 
And for a glimi)se of her sweet face 

The proudest warrior sought. 

But one there came with i)lunied crest, 
A Jfatchez warrior from the west. 
His feet the fleetest brave outvied, 

Swift as the mountain roe, 
But when he reached the maiden's side, 

His footstei)s loitered slow. 



His rallyiiiii cry r;iii,u- loud jiiul clear. 

To meet the eoiiiin<i- foe, 
But when he won the maiden's ear. 

His voice was soft and low. 
And so he told her o'er and o'er 
He would have sunshine at ins dooi; 
He asked a blossom for his breast, 
A star to light his crest. 



The wanior sou^lit the chieftaiifs side, 

A Natchez rinii' he bore, 
He asked the maiden for his bride 

To leave his side no more, 
The cliieftaiii answered as in .ulee. 
''WIhmi a ring giows on yonder tree, 
And circles yonder bongh. 

Then yon may l)ear my cliild from me. 
And wed willi ring and vow.'" 

The bright waves' laughed and thiongh the tree 
There sounded in an undertone 

Voices of tender witchery, 
"She loves, she loves but thee alone. 
Love can not lose its own." 



A storm swei)t o'er the Sonthern coast. 

The grandest of the long ago, 
And more than one brave sliij) was lost 

In the wide gulf of Mexico. 
But still the tree uprose in power, 

And on its bough, O wondrous thing! 
The transmutation of an honr, 

Two branches twined into a ring. 



A ring- so wide that one may see 
Within its circle Heaven's own bhie, 

The live oak held the lover's key 
To life's old story, always new. 

'Tis many a year since they were wed, 

And o'er their graves what fancies spring. 
For still the pilgrim hither led 

May find the oak tree and ring. 
Above the rectory door it stands, 

Tts branches by the sea-breath blown, 
And ni)ward seems to reach its hands, 

Where Love mav ever find its own. 



Cbo IPoob CbrusI?. 

'Twas May, the early morning, when first I heard him calling 
In the moss-embowered thicket where dusky shadows fall. 

And still I hear the echo of all the tones enthralling. 
The jiass^ion, the abandon, the mnsic of his call. 

Like fragrance, violet-laden, the tangled tones translated. 
The spell of the blue Heavens, the sunlight and the sea; 

It told the witching secret that all the night had waited. 

How Earth may be an Eden, when the heart may dream of thee. 

On the fair face of the morning there was no look of scorning, 
There were no tones discordant in the wide world, — ah me ! — 

The morning star shone over, while the thrush in his green cover 
Confessed himself a lover, and sang of love and thee. 



CI (y>u\\ Coasi iccscnb of Ibc (ll^crckcc 2\osc. 

The old trees know tlie legends if we listen wlien tliey si)eak 
Of war, of love, of romance, to kindle eye and elieek, 
Here wliere the blue gulf widens, and breaks along the shore, 
The forest echoes whisjjer of the days that are no more. 
And moving on the long white strand T see a shadowy host. 
And the s^soldiers of Fort Tjonis are the guardians of the coast. 

Here in the old traditiims came the maidens of the Loire, 
The warriors of the Grand IMonarque to seek the lonely shore. 
And one there came whose life is told in love from sire to son, 
He was a servant of the cross good Father Davion, 
With the crnciftx ui)on his breast one night he wandered far 
He found his way but dimly by the shining of a star. 

At last a wch'oiiic in a tent among tlie (Uierokees, 

He sle])t to the wind sighing among the forest trees, 

And in a dream oiu'e more he saw liis mother's tender eyes 

Bending abo\(' liim in the light tliat fell from L*aradise. 

She i)ointe(l to a snow white Hower "'Twill lead thee hom(\" she 

said. 
He gazed in joy and wonderment until the dream was fled. 
The i)etals were like snow Hakes, the heart a golden light, 
The tiny tendrils reacheti to Heaven as though it longed for flight. 
And on its boughs, as if to speak with love that cheers and warn s, 
He saw amid a thousand stars the blaster's crown of tliorns. 

Among the wandering Cherokees he knelt in silent prayer, 
While the roses swayed their chalices like incense on the air. 
And the morning birds above him in the nuignolia tree. 
Sang on of love and Heaven, a Benedicife. 

Away! away he hastened, the cross uj^on his breast, 
Far lies the good l^'ort Louis, and ])eril marks the quest, 



The gray moss curtains dnrlcen tlio (lei)llis of sliade iinlcnowii, 

And in the West the storm clouds tlireaten in undertone, 

The Avild beasts of the forest lurk on the lonely path, 

And nearer came the tem])est, with tropic gloom and wrath, 

A thousand boding voices called Father Davion, 

But he thought him of the Master in the wilderness alone, 

And all along his i)athway the snow white blossoms grew, 

And smiled upon the Father as upon a face they knew, 

"Follow," they seemed to whis])er, "For we are Iciiding thee,-' 

"Onward and ever onward to the old Fort by the sea." 

They tangled o'er the bayous and made a bridge across, 
Through jungles of palmettoes and clouds of Spanish moss, 
Where the Yuccas si)read their lances in battle league arrayed, 
Where the dark streams were the dee])est, they wandered unafraid. 
And o'er the shifting sand dunes, where doul^t and danger bars, 
The white rose of the Cherokees l)uilde(l a path of stars. 

'Till after many a sorrow, leaning on Sauvolle's breast. 
The good Priest told the vision that all his journey blest. 
And heard the brave Commander, pledge on his bended knee, 
To build there the first chapel in Biloxi by the sea. 

The guns of old Fort Louis have crumbled many a sDring, 

But Sauvolle's dirge still lingers where winds and waters sing. 

The true knights of the Fleur de Lis no longer guard the kec]), 

The lovely dames and 'demoiselles are many a year asleep. 

The sails that bore their barses no longer proudly float, 

Their armor and their swords are rust, the reeds sigh in the moat, 

The cliapel walls have fallen and faded into dust, 

But the old trees keep the legends as in a sacred trust. 

And still with every summer the forest ways disclose 

The flower of Father Davion, the Cherokee white rose. 



Ccrias 'Exsa. 

(At Ship Island, (Julf of Mexico.) 

Frail habitant of yonder shore, 

From off the leaf that sheltered thee 
What wondrous craft thy being bore 

Safe through the cyclone of the sea ! 
Thy citron-yellow wings are bright, 

And soft the rosy fringe they wear, 
And rays of bloom and silver light 

Adorn thee, blossom of the air! 

The Cassia, on whose silken tiower 

Thy fragile life its being tills, 
What has thou garnered of its dower 

To waft thee where thy spirit wills? 
What dream of flowers of fairer hues. 

Of lights uKH-e beautiful than dawn, 
Of winds of balm and honey-dews 

Allured thee ever on and on? 

Thou didst but ask, O fairy si)rite, 

A blossom cui), the morning beam, 
Companions for thy circling flight, 

And love to share thy rainbow dream ! 
Here on the white, sea-drifted shore 

Thy feeble, fluttering life 1 scan; 
Thou tellest the lesson o'er and o'er, — 

Thou art the history of man. 



10 



CI?e Daupf;«tnc 3sles. 

When twilight shadows darkeu down, 

And vesper hour is o'er, 
A little maid with eyes of brown 

Seeks the Biloxi shore, 
Where gulls are skimming* o'er the sands, 

And night birds inland flee, 
With eager eyes and clasi)ed hands 

She looks toward the sea. 
And as she scans the waters o'er 

A song her watch beguiles, 
A boat is coming to the shore 

Fiom off the Dauphin e Isles. 

She waited when the morn afai' 

Hid all her rainbow light. 
She lingered when the evening star 

Was shining through the night. 
The King might lose his royal crown, 

And dynasties might fall, 
Republics rise and thrones go down — 

The maid cares not at all. 
She sees the coming of a sail. 

With happy tears and smiles, 
The boat that weathered through the gale 

From off the Dauphine Isles. 

Fast, fast, the sail comes into sight. 

The tide comes o'er the bar. 
And yonder the Biloxi light 

Shines like a golden star. 
Above the dip of eager oars 

The sailor's greetings ring, 

11 



And (left and fast tlie sail lie lowers, 

Alij who would be a kiii^ 
If such a maid woidd \\\n him home 

"With kisses and with smiles:' 
Or choose on wider seas to roam 

From off the l)au])liine Isles'? 



rCuyht on tl]c (5^ulf doa^^t. 

My boat is driftin<»- to the shore, 
A track of silver in its wake, 
Around the prow the ripples break, 

And diamonds flash from off the oar. 

A crescent moon is in the bine. 
And to the West the evening- star. 
Shines brightly o'er the iiarbor bar, 

And where the white beach (-omes to view: 

Like some mysterious snowy scroll 

A line of sea gulls far away 

Fades where the shadows bridge the bay 
Where sounds a sailor's barcarole, 
A la Creole, the soft refrain 

To words of witcherie are set 
Soft as the fall of summer rain 

And tender as a heart's jcgret. 

Along the shore the myrtle bends 
To scatter clouds of roseate bloom 
And the pale jasmine's night ])erfume, 

Like incense at an altar bends. 

Balsamic odors till the breeze 

The fragrance of the dark pine woods 
The breath of yonder solitudes 

Of orange aiul magnolia trees. 

12 



Leagues outward burns the island light 
A planet fire untremulous, 
While soft and clear the angelus 

Eings out the message of the night. 

Lo, now a rippling voice is heard, 
The ears' are stilled to catch the note, 
All June's rare transport fills his throat, 

He sings of love — the mocking bird ! 



Thou vesper blossom, on thy petals white 
A tear has fallen from the summer night; 

O'er thee the night-wind blows; 
Thy sweetest fragrance; hidden from the light, 

The darkness doth disclose. 

Ah ! dost thou know that thou an alien art. 
That from thy home thou bloomest far apart 

Thou dainty pearl of flowers. 
Giving unseen the treasures of thy heart, 

Through all the darksome hours! — 

Hast thou a high for thy companions flown. 
And dost thou waft a message to thy own 

Where such as thou may'st come"? 
In darkness art thou dreaming there alone 

Of Paradise and Homef 



13 



CT (Iliistcr of €tcf]cti. 

A fraoineiit torn from yoii gray stone 

The wind Las blown to nie; 
Bit of Creation-s livery known 

To mount, and rock, and tree. 
Long a>ons ere tlic Howers smiled 

Its lowly type bad birth; 
Bloom of the youth- world, first beguiled 

To grace fair Mother Earth, 
A hundred years perchance and more 

It clung to yon gray stone, 
Ere it had curved a tiny spoie 

From granite atoms grown. 

Pray tell me, and thy worth enliance, 

Fair i^rophet of the tiower, 
How, from the clogs of cinnimstance, 

Thou grewest from hour to hourf 
Whence came thy patient strength to wait. 

Thy long unyielding strife, 
AVho taught thee to assimilate 

Thy elemental life? 

Then tell me of a soul long gone 

That strove in doubt and fesir, 
N(U- felt the glory of the dawn, 

Xor saw the morn ai)pear, 
Yet patient wrought, in pain and tears, 

With courage strong, divine. 
Back in the far jnimeval years. 

Say, was it kin of thine? 



14 



tri?e ^Uusic of tl)Q pines. 

The Dryad knows the minstrel who taught the pines to aing 

'Till every green leaf needle wakes as a harper's string. 

The sweet JEolian voices across the forest call 

In fairy tones and Ellin that hold the heart in thrall. 

Mysterious magician whate'er the secret be 

The June woods of the Gulf Coast keep the music of the sea. 

The song of merry barges with silver sails abreast 

Ee echoes when the cloud drift is blowing from the West, 

The rush of the tide water along the sandy bar, 

Sweeps through the forest unison like melody afar. 

Like spirit answering spirit, exultant, glad and free. 

The pine woods of the Gulf Coast sing the music of the sea. 

And when the pines are dreaming deep dreams of days long gone 
You may hear in their complaining the sea's requiem tone. 
For argosies full freighted that vanished long ago 
To ])orts in some far distance whose names we may not know. 
And halcyon tones seem calling where troubled hearts may flee; — 
The pine woods of the Gulf Coast sigh the music of the sea. 



a Coast s£i.3l?t. 

When twilight darkens into night 

The pendule tells the hour 
When Myra makes the signal light 

In yonder lighthouse tower. 
Bright as the evening star it glows 

The wide, dark waters o'er; 
The home-returning sailor knows 

His own Biloxi shore. 



When tempest-diiveu the vessel rocks, 

And lurid lightnings flame, 
When storms beat down and thunder sliocks, 

The signal burns the same. 
Brave as a bird, poised in its flight 

Above the tempest's roar. 
Beams out the guardian of the niglit 

Along Biloxi's shore. 

It tells of waiting household mirth 

Where laughing children })lay, 
Where wives and mothers light the hearth, 

The while they watch and i)ray. 
It tells of heroes of the seas. 

Of shii)S that come no more; 
While buoyant sails float with the breeze 

Toward Biloxi's shore. 

May He who lights the evening star 

His watch above her keep, 
Whose hands, with faithful care, unbar 

The shadows of the deep. 
And One, who walked on Galilee 

And stilled the waves of yore. 
Bring home the sailor on the sea 

Safe to Biloxi's shore. 



(X Soutbcvn HiC)l;t. 

O dost thou know a vesi)er bloom 
Whose fragrance tills the evening gloom 

With soft, bewitching power. 
Unfolding when the stars of night 
Make all the dark -blue heavens bright? 

It is the jasmine th)wer. 

— 1-6 



O (lost tlioii know tlie wild wood (liroiig 
And. one that sings a wondrous song? 

At night 'tis sw^eetest heard; 
Its ])urest strain the darkness knows 
And in niek)dious nlusic tlows; 

It is the mocking-bird. 

What kinsliip to tli(^ twain belong 
Tlie tie of tragraiiee and of song, 

Too subtk' to i)ortray ? 
What mystic forces bind ? They seem 
To sliare the selfsame moonlit dream. 

Companion sonls are they? 

To garish day and gaping throng 
The bird denies his sweetest song — 

So b]oon)s the tiower a])art; 
But to each other they disclose 
Where fragrance dwells and music tlows. 

Heart answering to heart. 

His warbling raitures have no word; 
It is enough if one has heard 

The message of the hour — 
The singing of a heart to rise 
To its own home in Paradise, 

Exhaling with the flower. 

Cans't tell mc, ye Evangels fair. 

Are song and fragrance garnered there, 

In yonder starry throng? 
ilust ever solitude and night 
Surround the fairest flowers of light, 

The blossomings of song ? 



17 



Saurollc :>nb Biloxi. 

[Written after readir:{r (iayarre's prose poem, the History of Louisiana] 

l*oet and statesman of scholastic iiiiiHl, 

l*iiinter, imisiciaii and of noble biitli, 
Where in the tieetin<;- annals of mankind' 

Is record of snrpassin^ niaidy worth ? 
Star of a conrt, of fortniie and estate, 

With royal virtnes and of conrage hijih; 
It was for sneh as he, () Power of Fate! — 

Biloxi, on thy quiet shores to die! 

On these white sands his haunted self full oft. 

Com[)anioned by a thought tiiat would not rest. 
The healinj;- power of nature vaiidy sou<>ht, 

For the keen torment of his hai)less breast. 
For baffled love, from whose unfathouu'd deej) 

He drank the l()n<>- cold di-aught of bitter i)ain; 
In these still shades, he, weary, strove to sleep. 

Blest if he saw in dreams her face aj;ain. 

Here where the camp tires of the red man l)urned, 

And the rude war note woke the shades of ni<;jiit. 
His eyes full oft with yearning homeward turned, — 

As trees u[)rooted still reach to the light. 
A glance, a song, the fragrance of a tiower 

Had spell to waft him where his heart would be, 
A face suuled on liini witli love's silent power, 

And he was there, in I'rance, across the sea. 

Fair pine woods of Biloxi, do you keep 

His memory in your dreauiiug — for 1 hear 
The wandering tones tliat e\er seem to wee]) 

For days long gone and vanished joy as dear. 

18 



In your deep glooms, have ye imprisoned there 
The sighs he breathed in solitude alone, 

When uight came down, and With unspoken prayer 
The heart remembered all its sweetness flown ! 

Blue sea, long wandering from shores far away, 

When sunmier nights are still I sometimes hear 
Mysterious music in your waters play, 

Solemn and strange, now far away, now near; 
Mournful it sounds, and witli a rhythmic beat. 

Like fairy echoes from a sweet bell's toll ; 
Thou elfin tone of rapture passing sweet. 

Dost thou complain of sorrow and Sauvolle? 

Bleak isle, long drifted from Biloxi's sliore, 

Hast thou a dream within thy secret cells f 
Wlien balm blows seaward, dost thou never more 

Long for the fragrance of the woodland dells? 
Dost thou not yearn for voice of singing birds. 

The violet banks, tlw rividet's briglit flow! 
Tlu'n thou dost know of Sauvollc, and thy words 

Will hold tlie story of his manly woe. 
Framed for all sweet aJ^'ections of our race, 

WHutt heavier cross might cruel fortune send ? — 
Xo more to see the one, beloved face. 

To him, rare boon, came Death, his truest friend. 



19 



Where forest oaks as sentries stand 

Outreacliing to the distant seas, 
The gray moss of the Southern land 

Waves softly in the evening breeze. 
Its tiny roots their life strings draw 

From ancient bough and tender stem 
And fed by nature's mystic law 

Like a gray mist doth compass them. 

As by some fairy fingers spun 

It trembles to the wind's soft sigh, 
It sways to kisses of the sun 

As cloud wreaths mingle in the sky. 
The wild bird gathers for ber brood 

The floss to line her sylvan nest. 
It screens her tender solitude 

And Si>ftly veils her bed of rest. 

Such fragile root the moss hath won 

And yet it seems divinely fed, 
And can it be from sun to sun 

A hungry heart may lack for bread; 
So little tills our earthly store, 

O gray moss of the Southern land! 
May one go missing ever more 

The clasping of a vanished hand? 



20 



Ct ^our=€oaf (£Ior>cr. 

Aunt Lydia of the colored race 

Aged is she moreover, 
Seeks with smiles upon her face 

Where the shadows hover, 

A four-leaf clover. 

Auut Lydia is ninety nine ! 

All the people love her, 
"Chile it is a lucky sign 

For a wide-world rover 

A four-leaf clover," 

"Here it is, one! two! three! four!" 

Counts the green leaves over 
"A shu' sign!" she whispers lower 

"Sweetheart or a lover, 

A four-leaf clover." 

"Press it Honey in a book 

AVith a strong, safe cover!" 
"Shall I keep it! I'm in luck 

Sweetheart, or a lover, 

A four-leaf clover." 

Aunt Lydia, aged ninety -nine! 

IMay the Fates approve her, 
Eomance, youth or age thy shrine! 

Who would not discover 

A four-leaf clover"? 



21 



(Itjc Prcam of (£ona.— Ct £ccncnb of tt^c (Bulf doast. 

Before Kinc; Louis' tliioiie slie plead: 

"Tlie sea is dark, long is tlie way, 
But yesterday we twain were wed, 

Thy soldier knight and Eona; 
And now his ship will sail afar 

Full many a league away from nie; 
O, King, I pray thee bid hiju stay. 

For daugor evei- haunts the sea! 
And there, where Southern winds blow bland 

The wrecking crews their signals show, 
Far from his home, his native land, 

I can not, can not let him go!" 

"Dost tliou forget," the monarcli said, 

"He is a soldier of the King, 
And they who wait him die for bread? 

Thy love should give his courage wing!'^ 
The fair, flushed face grew ashen gray — 
The Abbe said: "Pray, daugliter, pray!" 

Within the cliapel dark and old. 

Beside the altar's sacred sliade. 
As days of summer onward rolled, 

F^he knelt the livelong night and prayed. 
Her face grew wan with vigils lone, 

And in her locks came threads of gray; 
Her hands so white, the chancel stone 

Was not more snowy cold than they; 
Nor had she tasted bread or wine 

Since on her lips his kisses lay — 
His fond farewell to Eona. 

\ 22 



At last, as by a power divine, 

Slie slept before the sacred shrine. 
She seemed to hear as from the skies: 

" There is a love of holy birth-, 
It is the love that never dies, 

The crowning glory of the earth. 
That love shall hght with rays diviue 
His onward path whose heart is thine," 

On the dark sea the midnight slept; 

No star illumined the seaman's way; 
The storm clouds nearer, darker swept. 

And on the reef the good ship lay. 
What light allures to yonder shore ! 

" Or friend or foe ? Ah ! who can say ! 
The wreckers wait! 'Tis almost o'er; 
I hear the i)rayer of Eona." 
The sailor-lover bowed his head. 

Then sudden came a mystic sight; 
The wide sea glowed like morning red. 

And all the shore grew strangely bright. 
Each mighty wave, with heaving breast. 

As lighted by God's finger came. 
And all the waste, from East to West, 

Was kindled by that touch of flame. 
The distant islands rose to view. 

As sentries who their watch would keep, 
And at his post the pilot knew 

The pathway of the mighty deep. 
No danger from the wreckers lure, 
The way grew plain, the path grew sure. 

" O, ye who hunger, sick and sore, 
Joy, joy at last!" Compassion said; 

23 



"King Jjouis' ship lias <'(»iih' to shore, 
It was his liaiul tliat sent us bread!'" 

]^nt as they <iave where famine j)]ea(l, 
\\'ith bended knee, the soklier said : 

'"Tuas not the Kin.ii- avIio lit the Avay — 
It was tlic ])rayer of Eona." 

The forts they bnihled long- ago 
Ahmg the Gulf of Mexico 

Are buried in the drifting sand ; 
Their very graves we may not know, 

Those brave defenders of our hind. 
But liere, where memory traces still 
Names of LaSalle and IherviUe, 

SauvoUe, DelSoto, Ferrier, 

Bienville, Tonti, Chateaxf/ue, 
/SY. Denis, Crozat, lAvandais, 

Tradition dreams of Eona. 

For still, when summer nights are dark, 

With not a star to light or save. 
The watchful sailor oft will maik 

That wondrous light upon the wave. 
It glitters 'neath bis bending oar, 

It flashes in his vessel's wake, 
It dashes shining on the shore. 

As summer liglitnings flash and break. 
If there be wreckers any more, 

The boldest seaman can not say 
But somewhere on a distant shore 

He hears the i)rayer of Eona. 



24 



iLl]c Cnic Sonq, of tl)c lIlTocktnc^ Birb. 

The true soiig of the mocking' bird 
Far in the woodhiud lone is heard 
No mimic strain therein has part 
The tones come singing from his heart, 
Another note he brings each day, 
Where roses o'er tlie lattice stray, 
The song in which the world has part 
Is not the true song of his heart. 

In dulcet i)alpitating tone 
He sings and dreams himself alone. 
Such music in the measure lies 
'Tis like a voice from Paradise. 
I, softly stealing through the wood. 
Capture the song, a sweet prelude. 
It thrills the dusky solitude, 
Dream of a nest and downy brood. 

Tlirough all the song's bewitching power, 
There floats as fragrance from a flower 
A spell as though a haunting tone 
Had drifted from a joy long flown. 
Dear bird, your secret who would tell, 
One hint of your sweet madrigal, 
Enougli one listening ear had part 
And lieard the singing of a heart. 



Ship Island seems a drift of snow, 
Fort Massachusetts guards lier glory, 

With legends of the long-ago 
Each cannon, a memento mori 

On pyraujidal tower of white 

Here burns the red fixed island light. 

Isles of the Gulf of Mexico 

Else white and fair by Heaven planted, 
And there the birds rock to and fro 

And sing old songs of j^orts enchanted. 
The siren songs that fill the night 
Around the fair Ship Island light. 

When midnight darkens o'er the sea 

And through the gloom the storm cIcmuIs mutter, 
When hidden shoals are to the lee 

The main mast bends, the top sails flutter. 
The sailor knows no gladder sight 
Than glows in the Ship Island light. 

For twenty years through storm and shine 

As mariners may well remember, 
The clear, true light, like Love Divine, 

Has shown on high a glowing ember 
Tne seaman's star to guide his tiight 
Through the wihl i)asses of the night. 

Brave Dan McCall, no hurricane 

With breaking waves of crested splemlor, 

Like mighty armies of the main 
Has ever dared thee to surrender. 

Firm at thy i)ost, in Duty's might 

(ruard thou tiu' old Shi]) Island light. 

26 



(X SpanisI} (Sulf Song. 

The far gulf mists are rising 

The white cajis fleck the sea, 
But to the fishermen's cottage 

A song floats merrily. 
The Spanish sailor dreaming 

Flies with his gallant sail, 
I hear the echoes calling, 

In music on the gale 

Voi/ a casaf Voy a casa! 
I'm going home ! 

A flower from the sea marshes, 

Shells from the Chaudeleur, 
A sea bird from the storm-wre(^k 

They all are garnered here. 
Drift from old o<'ean's treasure 

To deck the household shrine, 
A wealth that knows no measure 

And bears Love's countersign. 

Voy a casa! Voy a casa! 
I'm going home ! 

"_B I tiempo se compone! " 

He ties the anchor chain ; 
I think of Salamanca 

And many a port in Si)ain 
TLie citadel of Malaga 

The stronghold of the Moor 
But the sailor only dreamed of her 

Who waited at his door. 

Voy a casa! Voy a casa! 
I'm going home ! 

.27 



Sailing on tl^c ©ulf. 

Upon the Gnlf of Mexico 

The sails are flying free, 
The stormy winds of winter blow 

Boreas rnles the sea. 
The sailor sings thongh tempest-tost, 
The sailors of the Sonthern coast. 
Are brave as any sea may boast. 

Upon the Gnlf of Mexico 

Afar in other years. 
Came motley crews, a rendezvous, 

The master buccaneers. 
Homeric chapters might be told 
Of heavy guns and })irates bold, 
Of men who i)rowled the sea f(n^ gold. 

Around the islands far away 

Whose lights' to-night we greet. 
Along the Barrafaria Bay 

Sailed Jean and Pierre Lafitte. 
When midnight's mystic i)Owers prevail, 
'Tis said, dark hull and phantom sail 
And boom of guns, rei)eats the tale. 

Upon the Gulf of Mexico 

Brave heroes proved their zeal, 

Here came LaSallc long time ago 
And gallant Iberville, 

And they who bore the pain and loss. 

On holy eves their banners toss 

For here they raised our Saviour's cross. 

28 



Upon the Gulf of Mexico 

A sea bird since tliat time 
Whose dwelling place we may not know 

Sings like a matin chime. 
"■Prie-Dieu''^ sonnds near and far, 
In dulcet tones no storm may mar, 
As though it floated from a star. 



^illes a €a (£a5scttc. 

Of all the bright romances 

The Southern land may boast, 
A glamour of sweet fancies, 
Historic i)age enhances 

A vista of the coast. 

His majesty's fair cargo. 

Maids of the FJeur de Lis, 
They came the dear embargo, 
As in another Argo, 

To seek the Mexic seas. 

The very waves were singing 

In dancing spray and foam, 
When o'er the waters wingiug 
The welcome ship came bringing 

The maidens to their home. 

The ocean fires were lighted 

With all their phosphor glow, 
And the crescent moon invited 
Where knight and maid were pliglited 
On the Gulf of Mexico. 

29 



'Neath jasmine and ponio^Tajiate^ 

The live oak, bay and pine, 
Their love hymn, Ileaven beg-nn it. 
And smiling- star and planet 
Beheld their altar shrine. 

And so the old songs glowing, 
Drift from tiie Troubadonrs, 
Iiomatia''s speech bestowing. 
In dulcet tones and flowing- 
Game to the Southern shores. 

In woodland's dim seclusion 
Woke chansons of romance, 

And in a witching fusion 

Tone voices Andelusian 

Spoke in tlie tones of Fiance. 



at.tranb. 

Yon little boat is moored so low 
That oidy one who mindful heeds 

Would ever grant its power to go 
Beyond the sands, beyond the reeds,, 

Where ocean billows ebb and flow. 

And yet this boat its builder wrought 
Year after year in toilsome mood. 

Its gyres and timbers patient sought 
Through heavy hours of solitude,. 

And dreamed himself an argonaut. 

30 



jSTo passing eyes to-day diviiio 

The tale of all liis long desire. 
Although he builded strong and fine 

He ^Yrought its bolts in furnace fire, 
Its anchors forged in storm and shine. 

What fabrics of his treasure trove 
What hues of gold, and tints of rose, 

In yonder drooi)iiig sails he wove 

The wide, wide world nor cares nor knows 

He bade it speeds — his work of love. 

But never came the lagging tide 

To lift the boat upon its breast 
And all the ci^ew forsook his side 

And wandered East and wandered West, 
In vain to launch his boat he tried. 

There comes no passing boat in hail 
No signal through the distance gleams, 

Dark mists the seaward vistas veil; 
To realize the builder's dreams 

No breeze unfurls the silent sail. 

Round prow and keel slow drifts the sand, 
And they who pass nor heed, nor see 

One pull to aid the builder's hand 

Had launched this little boat. Ah me 

This waiting boat so long astraiid. 

But may be in some future hour 
Some delver in the sands shall tell, 

A builder built by right of dower, 

This builder builded staunch and well. 

And then the world shall own his power. 



31 



2TTciuortal dljurcb of tl)0 ^ilobocmci. — Bilo.vt on tl;c ©ulf Coast. 

|l{\iilt in Memory of Rev. Robert G. Hinsdale, S. T. I)., by Mr. II. T. 

Howai-d.] 

O Love of Heaven, the liftiii*;' of tlie lieait 

From this poor dust unto our God on lli^li ! 
In tills fair fane in which to day Thou art 

Man's asi)iration readies to tlie sky. 
Cross to the Heavens, and jiortals to tlie sea, 

Wide as the Earth thy influence ina^^ How; 
And as a storm-tossed bird may homeward flee 

Thy brooding ])eaee the troubled lieart may know. 
Forever i;reen thy sheltering- live oaks stand. 

As the dear memories thy shrines enfold, 
A beacon light upon the sea and land 

Thy liturgy shall call thr<)ugh years untold. 
Type of high Faitli, tlie purest and the best, 
Of love to man, God's blessing on thee rest. 



a Cccscnc^ of t[}c (^ulf ^orts. 

'Twas midnight hour, aiul in tlie years long tiown 

The Holy Father at the altar shrine 
Knelt, where a breviary illuminated shone 

With E-affaelle's dreams of glowing forms divine. 

From ether depths they slowly seemed to glide, 
Poised toward Heaven, along a mystic bar, 

Till as he gazed, a star he dreamed outvied 
The shining page, and beckoned him afar. 

Then in a vision on a m anderiug way 
Where Fort Barrancas looks upon the bay. 
Above the bluif, he saw the red star shine, 
As some strange portent and a warning sign. 

32 



On Santa Rosa's Isle liigii over-Jill, 

ne saw in wonderment red halos play, 
On old Fort Pickens closed and bastioned wall 

And on the navy yard of Fort McEee, 
At the sea entrance on the Dauphine Isle 

Where Fort Gaines stands, a guardian pentagon, 
At old Fort Bowyer it lingered for a while, 

And redly glowed above Fort Marion. 
And where Fort Jackson and Fort Philip stand, 

A maritime defense from Southern seas. 
The red star halted, as by slow command 

At Chef Menteur and the Eigolets. 
Above Fort Pike and over Fort Macomb, 

Fort Livingston and Barrataria Bay, 
And Avhere Ship Island lights th'e seaman home 

Over Fort Davis faded slow away. 
Startled the Father wakened, from afar 

There came strange voices and hurrying feet, 
'"Tis at our ])orts," they cried, "the war! the war! 

And all our forts make ready for the fleet. 
The darkness o'er our land is sweeping low 
The war cloud fills the Gulf of Mexico. 
Our bravest heroes may return no more 
And war's red star is risen on our shore!" 

The Father answered with a saintly grace, 
A wondrous light shone on his pallid face. 
He spoke as one who clearly knew and saw 
With second sight surpassing nature's law. 
In some ra|it vision the freed sdiil had been 
Upon the border worlds of life unseen. 
And in that moment of sui)reme release 
Had heard the prophecy of coming i)eace. 



33 



21Tavjoric anb ^oc.^ 

White sand is drifted o'er the floor, 

White as the cotton bloom, 
Like mist the walls are shrouded o'er 

And silence fills the room. 
Here where she sleeps her narrow bed 

With immortelles is w^hite, 
Pale burn the tapers at her head 

The long October night. 

An humble fisher's cottage there 

But ye who come should bring, 
Such reverence as ye would bear 

The palace of a King. 
When yester night her brother's boat 

Was wrecked on yonder sea 
For a brave hour they kept afloat 

Joe and sweet Marjorie. 

*'If I still cling to you I know 
You'll never reach the land " 

She softly kissed her brotlier Joe 
While she unclasi)ed her liand, 

A moment and the mad waves toss- 
Above her golden head; 

Joe sees it holding to the cross 
Joe weeping by the bed. 

He sees the tide come briiigiirg liome 

The sea drift to the strand, 
Her lovely shadow in the foam. 

Her face upon tlie sand. 
The Gulf liath treasures fair to see 

But none more rare I know, 
Than the last kiss of Marjorie 

For her poor brother Joe. 

*An incident of the storm of October, 189*^ 

34 



CI?c 0lb 3n6ian Cratl. 

Here Pascagoula, Chickasaw, 
Here Pensacola and Choctaw 

Have wandered face to face, 
And here they came the Mnscogees, 
The old chiefs of the Cherokees, 

And the Biloxi race. 

With gourds and shells their music rude 
Filled all this Gulf Coast solitude, 

And yonder falling mound. 
Holds battle signs of long ago. 
Tells where their torch fires used to glow 

Who sleeps there, under ground. 

Across their long trail you may pass 
'Neath cypress trees and sassafras 

Where the palmetto grows. 
The live oak, like them, stoic-born. 
Untouched by flattery or scorn 

Only their history knows. 

Here by the cool spring is the sign 
Where they encamped; the muscadine 

Half hides it from the sight. 
Over the bayous fringed with moss 
Their winged arrows sped cross 

With swift and steady flight. * 

The reeds still sing their lullabies 
And still their mystic watch fires rise. 

And many a secret tale, 
Is told to him in solitude 
Who walks the long path through the wood 

Along the Indian trail. 

35 



u 21IiriKTic o.f tijc (5ulf, 

It sLiiies witli spires and toniplcs <>:()](lcn 

I see afar its curtains rise, 
By sapi)liire seas it is enfoldon 

This city of tlie azure skies. 

Its banners float triumphal over. 

With diamond h'^lits above tlie dome. 
The islands in the distance hover 

And rainbow bridges span the foam. 
Aerial li<;hts like gems are glowing 

In si)lendor o'er the misty sea, 
And sails across the distaiice blo-wing 

Seem bringing home the loved to me. 
And where the ramparts shine and glisten 

Celestial choirs, O lovely band ! 
Make mystic music, we may listen 

To voices of the Better Land. 
O paths of light to fields Elysian 

Between us trackless waters rise, 
A veil of shadow o'er the vision=- 

The mirage fades, the daylight dies. 



3C 



a Cl^arm of St. 3ol]ii's €pe. 

A lily in lier girdle and in lier liand a rnne, 
The fairest Creole niai<len of all the flowers in June, 
She wears a fragrant garland most fair to look upon; 
'Tis the eve of the niidsuunner, the vigil of Saint John. 

Mysterious golden tendrils, ;ind wands from herbs uidaiown, 
In depths of sombre forests she gathered there alone. 
And all the silence whispered a word she could not name, 
For light that came upon her face in sudden tints of flame. 

The mocking birds above her the sweet confession heard 
The bells of the night jasmine at her passing footfall stirred, 
The dryad of the forest, the spirit of the i)ines, 
Enshrouded her with twilight and sliadows of the vines. 

She gatheied the Saint John's wort to find an answer true, 
And tried the spell prophetic the Youdoo Princess knew; 
Then when the stars above her gave forth their golden sign, 
She breathed ui»on the garland, and i)laced it on the shrine. 

This dainty, fragrant garland, twined with an antique rune, 
With subtle charm and fragrance won from the heart of June; 
When midnight bells are tolling, its magic power shall wait, 
Where lovers' vows assemble around the dreamland gate. 

Grant ere the morning wakens before the maiden's eyes, 
A fairy dream prophetic in beauty to arise- 
To wear the sweet enchantment of life's unclouded dawn, 
The gift of the midsummer and the Festa of Saint John. 



C(]o (lomina of the X)ryab. 

The sails are set to tlie Hsliiii<i- boats 

The mists of the morn are clearino-, 
The tarpon's silvery shadow tioats 

And Haslies, disai)pearin<i\ 
Sea birds call from the white sand dune 
Sea waves whisper a mystic rune, 
And not a tone from her cadence lost 
The Dryad is coming- along the coast. 

The live oak shadows above her sway 

xVnd the mistletoe, low bending, 
Laurel, magnolia, cedar and bay 

Their symphonies are blending. 
Listen! the pines the prelude knows, 
Fhite-like tones from tlie cane l)rake blows, 
Here in the green palmetto dells 
Vs'itcherie waits of a hundred s])ells, 
^T^olns waken>-' the wild wood rose 

And the moipiier's song together, 
The red pomegranate buds unclose 

As largess to the weather, 
The Nerides with the lilies tloat 
The marsh reeds answer Syrinx's note; 
The sphinx on his own cape jasmine swings 

The bee is down in the clover. 
And the buttertlies have found their wings 

From the rainbow sky linng over. 
Nymphs of tlu^ woods and hills are glad 
Naid, I'^cho and Oread, 
Pan is here with his singing host, 
The Dryad is coining along the coast! 



38 



tlJ^e Sicur aicxanbrc's Capers. 

Ill Chalevoix's old jourual find the name 
Of Sieur Alexandre,^ surgeon of tlie coast, 

He came in time of lier colonial fame 
A meagre record his, the uttermost, 

That from the coast wax myrtle a pure flame 
Grew at his bidding and the records boast 

The tapers that he made were pure and bright 

Aud seemed the very witcherie of light. 

Etheiial, like some mystic power, 'tis said 

Beneath his touch the waxen flame burned clear, 
Aud even in the smoke sweet perfume shed. 

Like the young leaves new gathered with the year. 
In old Fort Louis, in those times long fled 
'Hound dyiug beds, when nights were dark and lone 
Through weary vigils, oft the tapers slume. 

The secret haunt of mauy a flower and tree 

The Sieur Alexandre come to know, 
He hoped to send each year across the sea 

Wax myrtle tapers, blanched as driven snow, 
Marked with the insignia of the fleur-de-lis 
From the new world to come, a blessed sign, 
A fitting light for consecrated shrine. 

Beneath the flag of lilies lie wcmld make, 
By searchings oft and labor's patient art 

A flame, like incense for His blessed sake 
Who knows the secret ])laces of the heart 

And through the midnight forest light should break, 

And songs of joy the red man's litany, 

Sweet as the fragrance of the myrtle tree. 



o'J 



Across the yoius tradition pictures liiiii 

Brinoing his <;ifts to li<;ht the altars there, 
Tlie sih'iit nights were mist obscured and <liiii. 

And with the incense rose tlie bieath of juayer. 
The coming ship beyond the horizon's rim! — 
The live oaks spread theij- cover, — the gray moss,- 
While the fair tapers lit tlie altar cross. 

The Sieur Alcxmulrc is long forgot 

In the new lights of swiftly tlitting years, 
Yet when to-<lay in yonder myrtle grot 

I read the story of his l,^p)i)es and fears 
The myrtle shadow was a((sacred spot, 
His name, the soft leaf music murunired low 
And as a star his memory seeme<l to glow. 

Lord, grant our lives wheu day is done may be 

As fair as this, a poor man's humble mark, 
A hope to make a light so fair, so free, 

That it may shine out clearly in the dark ; 
That on our path Heaven's radiance we may see 
And to the '^ross may bring life's fairest bloom, 
And make a white light in a world of gloom. 



40 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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